Observers have repeatedly questioned the accuracy of age information for the extremely aged population of the United States. Inaccurate statement of age on the death certificate will have an effect on the published death rates for the very elderly. The proposed research will attempt to verify the reporting of age on the death certificate among persons in the "extreme aged" population. A sample of about four thousand decedents around 1970 who were reported to have been 85 years old or over will be selected from the death certificates filed in the cooperating states. Since record check with the birth certificate in most instances is not possible, the record linkage will be with the listing in the well -indexed 1900 census, conducted when the decendent presumably was a youth or young adult. The motive to exaggerate age attributed to the elderly would not have been present at this early period. Effort will be made to correct age on the death certificate on the basis of the 1900 census records. The "adjusted" distribution of deaths by age around 1970 so derived, will permit the computation of corrected death rates and life tables. These data may then furnish a basis for improving mortality statistics at older ages, and for evaluating the quality of census data. In addition, they may provide a better appreciation of the basic causes of the anomaly of the cross-over of nonwhite mortality to lower levels than white mortality at the upper age range.